The Spy Torn: The Truth In the HalfBlood Prince
by qwanderer
Summary: Snape is good! A retelling of HalfBlood Prince specially formulated to reveal this, with page numbers to confirm my evidence. Last Chapter: . . . And Your Mind Closed
1. Keep Your Mouth Shut

**The Spy Torn:**

The Truth Inside the Half-Blood Prince

---This is a fic which contains dialogue mostly quoted directly from the text. I submit it as evidence that Snape is loyal to the Order. Page numbers are given so you can look for yourself. Everything that is not character speech, however, is in my own words and represents my own interpretation of Snape's thoughts and motivations during Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.---

**Chapter One: **

**KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT**

Dialogue taken from _Spinner's End,_ p. 32-37 in the U.S. Hardback

and from the chapter _The Half-Blood Prince,_ p. 177

Inside Snape's home, at Spinner's End, two sisters sat listening to a tall tale – the story of Severus Snape, the loyal Death Eater. Bellatrix was skeptical, but Narcissa was eager to believe in Snape – that the Dark Lord trusted him, that he had power. For she had come to ask that he use that power.

Snape managed to quiet Bellatrix's questions, at least for a moment. "Now . . . you came to ask me for help, Narcissa?"

"Yes, Severus. I – I think you are the only one who can help me; I have nowhere else to turn. Lucius is in jail and. . . ." She paused, and the first of her tears rolled down her face. "The Dark Lord has forbidden me to speak of it. He wishes none to know of the plan. It is . . . very secret. But - "

Snape was, of course, curious, and he knew at once what would persuade her to speak of it. "If he has forbidden it, you ought not to speak. The Dark Lord's word is law."

"There! Even Snape says so: You were told not to talk, so hold your silence!" Bellatrix snarled.

He must take a risk now, a very great risk. But this information, this most secret of plans, had walked in his front door. And these days, he walked side by side with risk. As Dumbledore had asked.

"It so happens I know of the plan," he lied. "I am one of the few the Dark Lord has told. Nevertheless, had I not been in on the secret, Narcissa, you would have been guilty of great treachery to the Dark Lord."

"I thought you must know about it! He trusts you so, Severus. . . ."

_If it were so, Wormtail would not be here, skulking and listening behind doors,_ he thought. _My position with him is always . . . precarious._

"You know about the plan?" said Bellatrix. "_You _know?"

If no one revealed to him what this plan was about soon, things could become dangerous. But Narcissa seemed quite desperate for his help. He might have to nudge her in the right direction. . . .

"Certainly," said Snape. "But what help do you require, Narcissa? If you are imagining I can persuade the Dark Lord to change his mind, I am afraid there is no hope, none at all."

"Severus . . . my son . . . my only son. . . ."

_Something, at last,_ he thought, and then, _Draco?_

Bellatrix spoke now. "Draco should be proud. The Dark Lord is granting him a great honor. And I will say this for Draco: He isn't shrinking away from his duty; he seems glad of a chance to prove himself, excited at the prospect – "

"That's because he is sixteen and has no idea what lies in store! Why, Severus? Why my son? It is too dangerous! This is vengeance for Lucius's mistake, I know it!"

_Draco's duty? Prove himself? Has the boy been marked already? _Snape turned away from the crying Narcissa – he must draw her out, but also he had to think. His fingers were drawn to his left forearm but he stilled them. _She is right. Sixteen is far too young – He has no idea what he is doing._

"That's why he's chosen Draco, isn't it? To punish Lucius?"

Half of his mind still wrapped up in memory, Snape thought of what the Dark Lord told young Death Eaters. "If Draco succeeds, he will be honored above all others." It was a lie, of course.

"But he won't succeed!" Narcissa's voice held hysteria now. "How can he, when the Dark Lord himself – "

Everyone in the room was shocked that these words had been said. Snape controlled his face, of course. What could this all-important mission be? Something the Dark Lord had failed at?

"I only meant," Narcissa said hesitantly, "that nobody has yet succeeded. . . . Severus . . . please. . . . You are, you have always been, Draco's favorite teacher . . . you are Lucius's old friend . . . I beg you. . . you are the Dark Lord's favorite, his most trusted advisor. . . . Will you speak to him, persuade him – ?"

"The Dark Lord will not be persuaded, and I am not stupid enough to attempt it," Snape said. It would, indeed, be foolish, considering he was meant to know nothing of the plan. "I cannot pretend that the Dark Lord is not angry with Lucius. Lucius was supposed to be in charge. He got himself captured, along with how many others, and failed to retrieve the prophecy into the bargain. Yes, the Dark Lord is angry, Narcissa, very angry indeed." Only facts, facts that they all knew – but said in such a way as to indicate that Snape knew the Dark Lord's motivations for this new plot.

"Then I am right, he has chosen Draco in revenge! He does not mean him to succeed, he wants him to be killed trying!"

Snape thought there was more information to be gained before he truly involved himself, and so he remained silent. He was right; soon he found himself nose to nose with Narcissa, her hands grasping his robes.

"You could do it. _You _could do it instead of Draco, Severus. You would succeed, of course you would, and he would reward you beyond all of us – "

Removing her hands from his robes, he looked down at her and thought furiously. _He_ could...but then it must be at Hogwarts that the plan would be carried out? Could Draco possibly have been told to kill the Potter boy? _No, no! The Dark Lord still believes he must do that himself. _Then what? Snape could not think of the answer. Well, there was no turning back now, he must play his part.

"He intends me to do it in the end, I think. But he is determined that Draco should try first. You see, in the unlikely event that Draco succeeds, I shall be able to remain at Hogwarts a little longer, fulfilling my useful role as spy."

"In other words, it doesn't matter to him if Draco is killed!"

_Of course not_, Snape thought, but what he said was, "The Dark Lord is very angry. He failed to hear the prophecy. You know as well as I do, Narcissa, that he does not forgive easily."

Even this was too much for the devastated Narcissa. She collapsed to the floor.

"My only son . . . my only son. . . ."

Bellatrix glared at her sister. "You should be proud! If I had sons, I would be glad to give them up to the service of the Dark Lord!"

Snape took pity on her, sitting her back down on the sofa and giving her wine with a calming potion in it. "Narcissa, that's enough. Drink this. Listen to me." He watched her drink before he spoke. "It might be possible . . . for me to help Draco."

She looked at him, finally with real hope in her eyes. "Severus – oh, Severus – you would help him? Would you look after him, see he comes to no harm?

"I can try."

Suddenly she was kneeling before him, kissing his hand.

"If you are there to protect him . . . Severus, will you swear it? Will you make the Unbreakable Vow?"

"The Unbreakable Vow?"

"Aren't you listening, Narcissa? Oh, he'll _try,_ I'm sure. . . . The usual empty words, the usual slithering out of action . . . oh, on the Dark Lord's orders, of course!"

Snape looked into Narcissa's wide eyes. After all, right now they wanted the same thing . . . to protect Draco, to stop the Dark Lord's plan from being completed. It was the good in her that came forth now.

"Certainly, Narcissa, I shall make the Unbreakable Vow. Perhaps your sister will consent to be our Bonder." He knelt beside Narcissa. "You will need your wand, Bellatrix . . . and you will need to move a little closer."

The point of Bellatrix's wand hovered over their hands as Narcissa began the Vow.

"Will you, Severus, watch over my son, Draco, as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes?"

"I will."

The magic began to work, to bind him.

"And will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?"

"I will."

"And, should it prove necessary . . . if it seems Draco will fail . . ."

Snape could not stop the twitch. What was she asking?

". . . will you carry out the deed that the Dark Lord has ordered Draco to perform?"

_If I withdraw now, I will most certainly die,_ Snape thought. _If not from the unfinished vow, then from what Bellatrix will gather from it . . . my refusal to carry out the Dark Lord's will. If I agree . . . I will have a little more time to give to the Order, before the Vow is broken, if it must be._

"I will."

The Vow closed around him. It was done. He had sealed his own fate.

-------

_Defense Against the Dark Arts._

Who knew better than he how hard the Dark Arts were to escape?

He looked at the faces of his class. His eyes fell on Harry, and he remembered what Dumbledore had told him of . . . his little army.

_Let me see . . . Umbridge taught them nothing. . . ._

"You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe." He didn't smile. "Naturally, these teachers will all have had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion I am surprised so many of you scraped an O.W.L. in this subject. I shall be even more surprised if all of you manage to keep up with the N.E.W.T. work, which will be much more advanced."

Snape now began the lesson.

"The Dark Arts are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before."

_Yes, _he thought, _and despite all my work I have allowed myself to be bitten. There is no such thing as enough knowledge of the Dark Arts._

"You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, indestructible."

_And there is no more valuable lesson than keeping your mouth _shut.

As Snape attempted to teach his class nonverbal spells, he remembered his conversation with Dumbledore. The headmaster agreed with Snape that it had been foolish to agree to make an Unbreakable Vow. But there was nothing for it now. He must somehow find out what Draco's orders were and how much it would hurt the Order if they were to be carried out.


	2. One Must Die

**The Spy Torn**

The Truth Inside the Half-Blood Prince

---This chapter is the only to have original dialogue, one line to make my theory completely clear, and an interpretation of the conversation Hagrid overheard on the edge of the forest, with a couple of twists.---

**Chapter Two: **

**ONE MUST DIE**

Dialogue taken from _A Sluggish Memory,_ p. 357-360

and indicated by _Elf Tails,_ p. 405-406

Snape stared at the necklace. So Draco would have let this loose in the school. It could easily have killed a student, or even more than one, and it had come very close to making Potter one of its victims. Well, it was clear now, at least, that the plan was to kill _someone._ Whoever the package had been intended for. Perhaps Potter. Perhaps someone else. In any case, Snape very much feared that this would mean he would have to break his vow.

But not yet. He still had to watch over Draco, protect him from his own clumsy plots, find out who his target was . . . and make sure they stayed alive.

He got out a piece of parchment and wrote a summons for Draco to meet him in his office.

------------

Dumbledore had listened to Snape's reports. Snape had tried Legilimency, of course, to find out who Draco's target was, and that had not only failed to yield an answer but had turned Draco away even more from confiding in his favorite teacher. Dumbledore, however, thought he knew who the target must be. But he could not be sure, and the time was not yet right to tell Severus who he had sworn to kill. Snape was smart enough to have guessed, but he did not really want to know.

Harry was in his office once more for one of their lessons; they were discussing Harry's encounter with Rufus Scrimgeour over the hols.

"Well, it appears that Rufus found a way to corner you at last."

"He accused me of being 'Dumbledore's man through and through.'"

"How very rude of him."

"I told him I was."

Dumbledore felt a wave of sadness for the boy; Harry had lost many things in his life, but if his suspicions were correct, Harry would lose much more before the end, before Voldemort could be defeated. The headmaster felt his eyes fill with tears.

"I am very touched, Harry."

"Scrimgeour wanted to know where you go when you're not at Hogwarts."

"Yes, he is very nosy about that. He has even attempted to have me followed. Amusing, really. He set Dawlish to tail me. It wasn't kind. I have already been forced to jinx Dawlish once; I did it again with the greatest regret."

"So they still don't know where you go?"

"No, they don't, and the time is not quite right for you to know either. Now, I suggest we press on, unless there's anything else – "

"There is, actually, sir. It's about Malfoy and Snape."

"_Professor _Snape, Harry."

"Yes, sir. I overheard them during Professor Slughorn's party . . . well, I followed them, actually. . . ."

Dumbledore had always admired Harry's ability to set rules aside when he was in pursuit of what was Right and Good, but sometimes it could be exceedingly annoying. It would be no use telling Snape to be more careful . . . Snape was always careful. But spies, no matter how good they are, always face the possibility of being revealed.

"Thank you for telling me this, Harry, but I suggest that you put it out of your mind. I do not think that it is of great importance."

"Not of great importance? Professor, did you understand – ?"

"Yes, Harry, blessed as I am with extraordinary brainpower, I understood everything you told me. I think you might even consider the possibility that I understood more than you did. Again, I am glad you have confided in me, but let me reassure you that you have not told me anything that causes me disquiet."

The headmaster kept his face calm. True that it did not cause disquiet, it simply reminded him of disquiet he already had.

"So, sir, you definitely still trust – "

Dumbledore, despite his best efforts, was becoming annoyed. He truly did wish that he could tell Harry everything that he knew, but it really would not have been wise. The fewer people knew of the true depth of Snape's loyalty, the safer he was.

"I have been tolerant enough to answer that question already. My answer has not changed."

"I should think not," said Phineas Nigellus. No doubt he was remembering the proofs that Severus had given him in this very office.

"And now, Harry, I must insist that we press on. . . ."

----------

One night in late February Dumbledore returned through the grounds from Hogsmeade, where he had been . . . having a drink.

Snape intercepted him, his face paler even than usual.

"I must speak with you. The boy still will not tell me of his plans, but he did let slip his target – Dumbledore, it is you."

The discussion had become heated. There was a small rustling in the undergrowth of the forest. Neither of them heard it, or if they did, they assumed it was some small animal.

"You take too much for granted, Dumbledore. What you are asking . . . I may not even be capable of it! I have some measure of control, but . . . you ask too much."

"I know exactly how much I ask, Severus. I know it will be difficult. That it will do you great harm. But there is no alternative." Dumbledore was speaking quite loudly now. "You agreed to do it, and, quite simply, it must be done!"

"It would be better for me to accept the consequences of failure!"

"No it would _not,_ Severus! Your talents are needed!"

Snape spoke in a more subdued voice now. "But surely, Headmaster, after such a lapse . . . you cannot still believe . . . it is wearing away at me, Dumbledore, surely you can see that!"

Dumbledore laid his burned, black hand gently on Snape's shoulder. "Severus, _no one _is infallible. Certainly not I, and certainly not you. I have asked you to do some investigating for me, and towards that end you must always be cautious. But in your own house – unexpected, in the evening, when you were undoubtedly preparing for sleep, when the mind, as you say, is most vulnerable – no one could expect you to be entirely clear-headed under such circumstances. And to be influenced by a mother's plea for her child's welfare . . . I find that understandable." Dumbledore smiled. "In fact I think no less of you for it."

Once more unheard, there was the small squeak of Hagrid's door closing.


	3. Exploding Snape

**The Spy Torn**

The Truth Inside the Half-Blood Prince

**--** This is where I start getting creative with the inner Snape. All dialogue is still Rowling's.**--**

**Chapter Three: **

**EXPLODING SNAPE**

Dialogue taken from _Sectumsempra,_ p. 523-528

Draco had been looking rather worried and pale, and Snape had taken to tailing him, since the boy would not willingly receive help. Snape was hiding near the sixth floor bathroom, and he was beginning to think it was possible that Draco was actually physically ill. Why else would he have not come out? Snape already knew that his usual hiding place was on the seventh floor, though he could not find it.

Then Potter came rushing down the hall and stuck his face in through the door. So he wanted to be a spy, too? How . . . cute.

Draco, of course, saw him. There was the predictable exchange of jinxes, commotion, and destruction of school property. It happened on a regular basis. Snape stayed hidden.

"MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

Snape was through the door in two seconds. Harry was just fine, of course. Draco –

He had to save Draco. He had sworn it. But there were very few spells that could counteract this . . . he had meant it to be that way . . . the best one, the most effective, would drain Snape's energy but he didn't hesitate. He knelt beside Draco and began the chant.

He wiped Draco's face, clearing away the blood. It was working, but not fast. Snape sang the chant again. His head began to hurt. Again.

Finally Draco was well enough to stand. Snape helped him up. "You need the hospital wing. There may be a certain amount of scarring, but if you take dittany immediately we might avoid even that. . . . Come. . . ."

He turned around and stared at the inexplicably whole boy in the blood-covered bathroom.

"And you, Potter . . . you wait here for me."

Madam Pomfrey fussed over Severus as well as Draco, but he only waited long enough to be given something to help restore his energy before going back to the bathroom. It wouldn't do anything for the side effects of the chant.

Potter was there when he came back, babbling some nonsense about not knowing what the spell did. What kind of idiot used a spell without knowing what it did?

"Apparently I underestimated you, Potter. Who would have thought you knew such dark magic? Who taught you that spell?"

"I – read about it somewhere," the boy babbled.

"Where?" Snape _knew_ that that spell had never been published in any book.

"It was – a library book. I can't remember what it was call – "

"Liar." Snape dove into Harry's mind. There was some feeble resistance and then Snape saw . . . a book. A book he knew very well.

The Half-Blood Prince's book.  
"Bring me your schoolbag, and all of your schoolbooks. _All_ of them. Bring them to me here. Now!"

Snape had a pounding headache.

His failures just kept coming back and taunting him today. He had nearly managed to fail at his oath already . . . the part he had meant to keep. Draco had been badly injured, had nearly died.

Seen in a certain light, Snape himself was responsible for that injury. He had created the spell, created an easier way to kill than by Avada Kedavra. You didn't need the focused intention of the Killing Curse. You only needed to wait for them to bleed to death.

He had been proud of that spell.

He wasn't anymore.

He had been proud, too, of the mark on his arm, the skull and snake, just as Draco was proud of his own.

After the Potters had died – after he learned how and why – well, it was like a scene from Macbeth. He had nearly killed himself trying all different ways to get it off. He would have cut off his own arm eventually – if not for Dumbledore. Dumbledore had convinced him to live this life, where no one trusted him, where he could never be completely honest . . . and where every time he looked at Harry, he saw Lily's eyes, hating him, blaming him.

Because of his latest mistake, he would not even have Dumbledore to trust him, to look at him as a human being and not a snake. His errors flocked around him. His head pounded.

_And here comes the boy who lives himself, sure to have hidden the object that has endeared him so much to our new Potions master._

Sure enough, when Potter had turned out his book bag, there was a potions book, new and shiny, with "Roonil Wazlib" written inside the front cover. Harry, ever the inventive, transparent liar, insisted it was his nickname.

Snape dipped once more into the boy's mind, and there, certainly easier to read than its transcription in the book, was clearly written the name Ronald Weasley.

And also, staring him in the face, another one of Snape's failures: Potter was still abysmal at Occlumency.

Snape's head exploded. Quietly, and internally.

"Do you know what I think, Potter? I think that you are a liar and a cheat and that you deserve detention with me every Saturday until the end of term. . . ."


	4. Dumbledore's Farewell

**The Spy Torn**

The Truth Inside the Half-Blood Prince

----I can't stick to a one-character POV for more than a oneshot. It's a peculiarity of mine. I tried to keep the flow of Snapiness going through this chapter. I think it works. Besides, it's all evidence. We've got to give Snape evidence.----

**Chapter Four: **

**DUMBLEDORE'S FAREWELL**

Dialogue taken from _The Seer Overheard,_ p. 549-551

Harry stood before Dumbledore, enraged, for he had just found out how much Severus had been a part of all that had happened, to his family and to others. Dumbledore had hoped that the secret would die with him, but Harry was a bright one for figuring things out . . . good, it would help him survive. But tonight was not the time to discuss this. Dumbledore tried to calm Harry.

"Professor Snape made a terrible mistake. He was still in Lord Voldemort's employ on the night he heard the first half of Professor Trelawney's prophecy. Naturally, he hastened to tell his master what he had heard, for it concerned his master most deeply. But he did not know – he had no possible way of knowing – which boy Voldemort would hunt from then onward, or that the parents he would destroy in his murderous quest were people that Professor Snape knew, that they were your mother and father – "

"He hated my dad like he hated Sirius! Haven't you noticed, Professor, how the people Snape hates tend to end up dead?"

_You have no idea how people can change, how they can come together, however unlike, when there is tragedy. You still see the world as Us and Them. I fear the Sorting Hat is right, and that Hogwarts, as it has been, has driven us apart . . . _

"You have no idea of the remorse Professor Snape felt when he realized how Lord Voldemort had interpreted the prophecy, Harry. I believe it to be the greatest regret of his life and the reason that he returned – "

"But _he's_ a very good Occlumens, isn't he, sir? And isn't Voldemort convinced that Snape's on his side, even now? Professor . . . how can you be sure Snape's on our side?"

Dumbledore was certain now that like his godfather, Harry would never let himself get to know the noble, brave parts of Snape that lay behind the twisted exterior. Unless . . . unless Dumbledore told him now of the proofs of Snape's loyalty, and prepared Harry for the sacrifice to come. But no, Harry would not understand. He would try to stop it, at whatever cost to the Order. Dumbledore's word would have to do for today.

"I am sure. I trust Severus Snape completely."

Harry looked once more as if he was about to burst.

"Well, I don't! He's up to something with Draco Malfoy right now, right under your nose, and you still – "

_No, it would not have worked. Harry could never be convinced that Severus's life is more important to the order than mine, or that he should not have to pay for the error he made that night in Spinner's End. Severus already pays more than anyone knows for his mistakes._

"We have discussed this, Harry. I have told you my views."

"You're leaving the school tonight, and I'll bet you haven't even considered that Snape and Malfoy might decide to - "

"To what?" Harry's would have been a losing bet. Dumbledore had considered many things. "What is it that you suspect them of doing, precisely?"

"I - they're up to something! Professor Trelawney was just in the Room of Requirement, trying to hide her sherry bottles, and she heard Malfoy whooping, celebrating! He's trying to mendsomething dangerous in there and if you ask me, he's fixed it at last and you're about to just walk out of the school without – "

"Enough." This information – and Dumbledore trusted Harry's judgement, even if he must appear to be ignoring it – meant that they had a much more urgent need to leave the school as soon as possible. He must survive long enough to show Harry certain things, to give him the tools he would need.

"Do you think that I have once left the school unprotected during my absences this year? I have not. Tonight, when I leave, there will again be additional protection in place. Please do not suggest that I do not take the safety of my students seriously, Harry."

"I didn't – "

"I do not wish to discuss the matter any further." They must leave soon. "Do you wish to come with me tonight?"

"Yes."

"Very well, then: Listen. I take you with me on one condition: that you obey any command I might give you at once, and without question."

"Of course."

But then, Harry often ignored rules in favor of being noble. "Be sure to understand me, Harry. I mean that you must follow even such orders as 'run,' 'hide,' or 'go back.' Do I have your word?"

"I – yes, of course."

"If I tell you to hide, you will do so?"

"Yes."

"If I tell you to flee, you will obey?"

"Yes."

"If I tell you to leave me and save yourself, you will do as I tell you?"

"I – "

"Harry?"

_How do you say goodbye without saying goodbye?_

" . . . Yes, sir."

Dumbledore was brisk again. They really must hurry. "Very good. Then I wish you to go and fetch your Invisibility Cloak and meet me in the entrance hall in five minutes' time."

He turned away, to the sunset-filled window, and thought of deception. Was it his fault that Harry would never trust Severus? That he would have to face so much alone?

Perhaps.

Severus, too, would never see Harry in his best light, as he was with his friends. In many ways, Severus had never known real friendship.

Severus understood, to some extent, why Dumbledore could not tell him of where he went when he left the school, of his plans for Harry. All of Snape's knowledge could be revealed in a moment of weakness. Severus understood why such important things should not be entrusted to him. But why Harry? Why not someone else - anyone else in the Order?

It was true that Severus had heard some of the Prophecy, but Snape could not believe that Dumbledore intended Harry to continue without help - to try and defeat Voldemort alone, at sixteen.

They would have to go their separate ways, each fighting Voldemort alone, each believing themselves to be the only one truly capable of defeating him. It was how each of them worked best – alone – Harry, because he could not bear to endanger those he cared for, and Snape, because it was essential to his work that he care deeply for no one.

Such opposites, but both very powerful. Dumbledore stared out at the red sun, and wished them both luck.


	5. Intention

**The Spy Torn:**

The Truth Inside the Half-Blood Prince

------I've put something in - You may find it silly, but just remember all Snape has to be nervous about. One last chapter to come.-------

**Chapter Five:**

**INTENTION**

Dialogue taken from _The Lightning-Struck Tower_, p. 583 & 595-596

indicated by _The Phoenix Lament,_ p. 619

and taken from _Flight of the Prince,_ p. 597-598

Dumbledore landed on the tower top with Harry, under the Mark, his head swimming still with the terrible visions the potion had shown him. He had one thought – to get Snape here before anyone else. Severus would know what the message meant, and he would bring a strong poison . . . the visions, at least, would end. But no one else must know he was here.

"Go and wake Severus. Tell him what has happened and bring him to me. Do nothing else, speak to nobody else, and do not remove your cloak. I shall wait here."

"But – "

"You swore to obey me, Harry – go!"

But steps sounded up the stairs. Harry would have pulled out his wand, prepared to defend Dumbledore to the death, he knew. That wouldn't do. That wouldn't do at all. _Petrificus Totalus,_ he thought, and waved his wand at the not-so-empty air.

The wand flew away from him just as he finished, and he knew he would never pick it up again.

Draco faced him, alone and scared. Good, good. He had a chance to do two things before he must leave – show Draco, and the silently watching Harry, how much harder it was for someone to choose to be evil than to choose, at least, not to be.

---------------------------------------------------------

Professor Flitwick burst into Snape's office. There were Death Eaters in the castle. How? But there was no time to theorize. The plan was in motion now. Snape sprang up, and, in an uncharacteristic fit of nervous clumsiness, he moved so fast that a stoppered stone jar fell off of one of his many shelves. It hit Professor Flitwick in the forehead and he crumpled. But no time to stop and worry. He ran out into the hall.

Two female students stood there; one of them was Granger. Why? No time to ask.

"Professor Flitwick has collapsed! You two, help him. I must go."

Snape raced up to the seventh floor, where he took in the battle, and the members of the Order attempting to force their way up to the top of the Astronomy tower. It must be up there, then. Snape recognized the barrier, and ran through it, up the stairs. He flung open the door.

It was worse than he feared it would be. Draco did indeed have help – Fenrir, Amycus. And there stood the boy Draco, his shaking wand pointed at a seemingly helpless Dumbledore. Severus could not delay any longer . . . .

Amycus saw him. "We've got a problem, Snape. The boy doesn't seem able – "

"Severus . . . "

Snape looked at Dumbledore. Yes, he must do it now. Dumbledore's word was a reminder. Snape stilled his mind, took control of it and summoned to him all the ammunition he had, memories from his days as a student here of how he had hated Dumbledore, his anger at this man over the past months, his disgust at Dumbledore for giving up his life so easily and for what he was now asking – no, _ordering_ Snape to do . . . .

He faltered.

"Severus, please . . ."

No questions now. Only control. Intention. There must be intention. He raised his wand.

_"Avada Kedavra!"_

For a moment Snape was merely surprised to see the old wizard fall. He knew that spell hadn't had the strength behind it that the Killing Curse must have. He had said the words, wishing inside his shell of anger that it would fail. But Dumbledore had also been waiting for death; he had seen it in the old man's eyes. He had been weaker, much weaker, than Snape had ever seen him. It had taken so very little . . .

He snapped back to reality. He must keep Draco safe, that was what was important now.

"Out of here, quickly," he said, seizing the boy's robes and propelling him down the stairs. Draco, shaking more than ever, did not fight him. They ran through the chaos at the bottom of the stairs.

The other Death Eaters did not follow – they were too intent on causing mayhem. Intent on killing students, members of the Order. What were students doing here?

Severus stopped to yell back, _"It's over! Time to go!"_ He had little hope that it would do much good.

He ran for the open grounds with Draco.


	6. And Your Mind Closed

**The Spy Torn**

The Truth Inside the Half-Blood Prince

-----I suggest reading to the end, taking a minute to absorb, and then scrolling down to read the notes on the jokes and cleverness I wrote in and want to make sure you catch.----

**Chapter Six:**

**. . . AND YOUR MIND CLOSED**

Dialogue taken from _Flight of the Prince, _p. 602-605

Snape saw a jet of red light go past his head. He yelled at Draco to run. Perhaps he could catch up. Snape turned. It was Potter.

Harry lifted his wand. "Cruc – "

But it had little force. It was easy to block.

Now Potter was throwing Unforgivable Curses at him, was he? The boy must know what he had done, then. It was laughably easy to see into the boy's thoughts, and there, before him, was a terrible burning anger that would lash out –

"Cruc – "

"No Unforgivable Curses from you, Potter! You haven't got the nerve or the ability – " _You haven't got the control, or the cruelty, and right now I envy that._

Another curse, another block. It was only making Potter angrier. "Fight back! Fight back, you cowardly – "

"Coward, did you call me, Potter? Your father would never attack me unless it was four to one; what would you call him, I wonder?"

"Impedi – "

_Keep him angry, and you keep him obvious. It's so easy. He's still so simple. He can't be taught._

"Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut and your mind closed, Potter!"

_But if he is, as Dumbledore says, our best hope, I had better still try._

_As Dumbledore said._

"Now come!" Snape told the other Death Eaters. "It is time to be gone, before the Ministry turns up – "

But Harry was on the ground, screaming. Snape looked around for the cause. It was Amycus, his wand held pointed down at Harry, a cruel, gleeful glint in his eye.

"No!" Snape shouted at him. Amycus lifted his wand and glared at Snape. "Have you forgotten our orders? Potter belongs to the Dark Lord – we are to leave him! Go! Go!"

The other three obeyed and ran, forgetting that Snape was not even supposed to be part of this mission. Snape stood and watched them go.

This time the warning was not only an overwhelming wave of hate, but also a blood-curdling yell. Potter had no control. Snape blocked his spells easily. _Sectumsempra – Levicorpus – his _spells.

"No, Potter!" His wand moved and the words went through his head and Potter was lying on his back in the grass. Snape was filled with anger as he stood over Potter, anger at Dumbledore for asking him to endure the waves of hate that radiated off the boy, anger at himself for the mistakes that had gotten him here, at the boy he had been for creating such spells, one spell that had nearly cost Draco his life –

"You dare use my own spells against me, Potter? It was I who invented them – I, the Half-Blood Prince! And you'd turn my inventions on me, like your filthy father, would you? I don't think so . . . _no_!"

Snape threw Harry's wand away from him with a hex as the boy lunged toward it.

The boy's hate had turned cold. He _was_ learning control . . .

"Kill me, then. Kill me like you killed him, you coward – "

But Snape lost his own control at that word. All the anger and frustration and pain of what he had just done escaped into a scream:

"DON'T CALL ME COWARD!"

He threw a curse wildly at Harry, knocking him once more to the ground.

Harry knew nothing of discipline. He knew nothing of killing . . .

Snape ran.

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Notes:

You probably got most of these, I just want to make sure you all know how clever I am. (No, I'm not a Granger – there's a difference. My hair behaves itself.)

Chapter titles -

- Exploding Snap, of course.

- Keep Your Mouth Shut . . . And Your Mind Closed. I actually wrote the first chapter title before I was finished rereading – his slip-up combined with teaching nonverbal spells seemed to warrant it - and when I saw Snape's line in the end I nearly died of irony. It neatly ties together everything I want to say about Snape and why he is the way he is.

- I also like the way the concept of One Must Die echoes the prophecy.

Other -

- Did you get the D. A. joke? They've had 5 DADA teachers – Quirrel, Lockhart, Lupin, uh . . . Crouch, and last year, Harry. (Wands away – come on. They learned more from Lockhart than from that witch.)

- Notice how my interpretation of what Hagrid overheard on p. 405, and Hagrid's own interpretation, are different near the end. I _tried_ to fit in Slytherin, but it didn't seem to work right. I still followed the script.

Okay, I'm done talking now.


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